Experts share sleep tips on World Sleep Day
Global News
A sleep researcher and sleep health educator said 20 to 30 per cent of people aren't sleeping long enough or well enough. But, that can change with some helpful sleep tips.
March 15 is World Sleep Day, and experts are sharing ways to help you catch those zzz’s.
Dr. Diana McMillan, a sleep researcher and sleep health educator, said 20 to 30 per cent of people aren’t sleeping long enough or well enough.
She said this has a direct link to physical and mental health.
Not only does a lack of sleep make us clumsier and more prone to accidents, she said, but “it increases our blood pressure, putting us at greater risk for having a myocardial infarction–what we call a heart attack or stroke.”
It also impacts various hormones.
“Growth hormones are almost exclusively excreted during sleep,” McMillan said, adding that this hormone is important for growing as its name suggests, but also for “normal, everyday tissue repair. So, if we don’t get enough sleep, we won’t have that normal protective rehabilitation going on internally.”
Other hormones, like those that help control blood sugar, are also thrown out of whack, she said. “So our blood sugar levels tend to be higher. It can be, almost, like being a Type 2 diabetic, and that certainly predisposes us to other health things, including greater risk of infections.”
McMillan noted that there are studies linking teens to developing depression or mood-related disorders when they’re not sleeping well.
